Ohio’s corn, bean yields set records

WASHINGTON – Ohio’s 2004 average corn yield is estimated at 158 bushels per acre, two bushels above the previous state record of 156 set in 2003.
Producers harvested 3.11 million acres for grain, compared to 3.07 million acres in 2003.
Total state production of 491.4 million bushels, is nearly 3 percent above the previous year’s production.
Acreage harvested for silage is estimated at 190,000 acres, up 20,000 acres from the previous year.
The average silage yield is estimated at 17.0 tons per acre.
Soybeans. Ohio farmers harvested 4.42 million acres of Soybeans in 2004 with a reported average yield of 47 bushels per acre.
This is three bushels above the previous state record yield of 44 bushels per acre set in both 1997 and 1998.
Total soybean production is estimated at 207.7 million bushels up 26 percent from the 164.8 million bushels produced in 2003.
Alfalfa and more. Alfalfa yields averaged 3.2 tons of dry hay per acre in 2004, while all other hay averaged 2.4 tons per acre.
Production of all hay decreased 19 percent from 2003 to 3.23 million tons.
Burley tobacco production for 2004 is estimated at nearly 11 million pounds, an increase of 26 percent from 2003, with an average yield of 1,960 pounds per acre.
The increase in production is due to an estimated 300 acre increase in harvested acreage from the previous year as well as a 310-pound increase in average yield.
Sugarbeet production is estimated at 34,000 tons, down 26 percent from 2003.
Potatoes, wheat. Ohio’s potato production in 2004 is estimated at 1.08 million hundredweight, a decrease of 1.5 percent from 2003.
Harvested potato acreage is estimated at 3,600, down 700 acres from 2003. The average yield at 300 hundredweight per acre, is up 45 hundredweight from 2003.
Ohio’s winter wheat seeded acreage for 2005 is estimated at 840,000, down 80,000 acres from the previous year.
National production. U.S. corn for grain production is estimated at 11.8 billion bushels, up less than 1 percent from the November forecast and up 17 percent from the 10.1 billion bushels produced in 2003.
The average U.S. grain yield is estimated at 160.4 bushels per acre, 0.2 bushels above the November forecast and up 18.2 bushels from 2003.
Both production and yield estimates are the largest on record.
The previous record for both was set last year when production was estimated at 10.1 billion bushels and yield was 142.2 bushels per acre.
U.S. beans. U.S. soybean production in 2004 totaled 3.14 billion bushels, the largest U.S. soybean crop in history.
This is down slightly from the November forecast but 28 percent above the 2003 level.
The average yield per acre is estimated at a record high 42.5 bushels, 0.1 bushel below the November forecast, but 8.6 bushels above the 2003 final yield.
Hay is down. U.S. production of all dry hay for 2004 is estimated at 158 million tons, down 5 percent from the Oct. 1 forecast but up fractionally from the 2003 total.
Area harvested, at 61.9 million acres, is up less than 1 percent from the October forecast but down 2 percent from 2003.
The average yield, at 2.55 tons per acre, is down 0.14 ton from October but up 0.06 ton from the previous year.